A father and his 11-year-old daughter perished in a horrific crash in Sydney’s southwest overnight, leaving a nine-year-old kid fighting for his life and a rideshare driver in critical condition.
Around 7.40 p.m. last night, Thai Duong and his daughter Haili were sitting in the back seat of a DiDi when their Toyota sedan crashed with a Toyota truck.
On Milperra Road in Milperra, the 52-year-old rideshare driver’s vehicle slid, trapping everyone inside.
Haili and Thai passed away there.
Nine-year-old Justin, her brother, was also in the car, but he made it out alive and was brought to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
The sedan’s driver is still being treated at the hospital and has not yet been questioned by authorities.
The 52-year-old guy was reportedly a rideshare driver for DiDi when the car crashed with a truck while attempting to make a right turn into an entertainment zone.
The 19-year-old ute driver was also brought to the hospital for examinations. Since then, he’s been let free.
DiDi declared today that it “will work with law enforcement in its investigations into the incident” in a statement.
“Our hearts go out to those involved and to those impacted, and will provide support wherever possible,” the business stated.
Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden had earlier examined dashcam footage from the rideshare car and established that the traffic signals were operational at the time of the collision.
At today’s news conference, McFadden responded, “I’m satisfied that it wasn’t safe to do so,” when asked if he thought the rideshare driver’s right turn was safe.
“We’re satisfied that the traffic control lights were working at the time, and that the driver did undertake a right-hand turn, and that there were clearly visible in the dashcam, that there were other vehicles coming from the opposite direction,” he stated to reporters.
The incident site was a 70 km/h zone, according to McFadden, and authorities would be investigating if speed was a contributing factor.
McFadden asked motorists throughout the state to slow down following the collision.
In just nine days, he said that 12 people had died in “tragic but preventable circumstances”.
“What we have seen over the last week is a real frustration on our part and we can’t imagine the tragedy that’s so many families at this point of time,” he stated.
At the same time, officers have found 5,100 drivers who have been speeding within the last nine days.
280 drivers have been detained for drunk driving connected to alcohol, and 651 of them also had illegal narcotics in their system.
